Breast-feeding and diarrheal morbidity.
 This study used a unique longitudinal survey of more than 3000 mother-infant pairs observed from pregnancy through infancy.
 The sample is representative of infants from the Cebu region of the Philippines.
 The sequencing of breast-feeding and diarrheal morbidity events was carefully examined in a longitudinal analysis which allowed for the examination of age-specific effects of feeding patterns.
 Because the work controlled for a wide range of environmental causes of diarrhea, the results can be generalized to other populations with some confidence.
 The addition to the breast-milk diet of even water, teas, and other nonnutritive liquids doubled or tripled the likelihood of diarrhea.
 Supplementation of breast-feeding with additional nutritive foods or liquids further increased significantly the risk of diarrhea; most benefits of breast-feeding alone or in combination with nutritive foods/liquids became small during the second half of infancy.
 Benefits of breast-feeding were slightly greater in urban environments.
